


Second Chance

by Ironlad2045



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Alternate Timeline, Gen, One Shot, Post-Finale
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-11
Updated: 2020-09-11
Packaged: 2021-03-06 17:42:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,586
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26402878
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ironlad2045/pseuds/Ironlad2045
Summary: It had just been a few years since Deke decided to stay back in this alternate timeline, while the rest of the team traveled back to the original timeline to finish their final mission.His mission was just beginning.The sound of footsteps coming to him brought him back from his thoughts. An officer arrived with the prisoner Deke wanted to meet, a teenager Grant Ward.
Relationships: Deke Shaw & Agents of SHIELD Team, Deke Shaw & Grant Ward, Grant Ward & Agents of SHIELD Team
Comments: 2
Kudos: 32





	Second Chance

**Author's Note:**

> Hey! First of all, I love Agents of Shield it is my favorite tv show and I think it is too underrated. And one of my favorite characters is Ward, I was a little disappointed with him missing in the finale but that's okay. After watching the finale I got this idea and I think it came out okay. I hope you like reading it. Leave your thoughts in the comments.

The door opened and a suited man entered the juvenile detention center.

“Hey, I’m here to see one prisoner, I called earlier” the man said to the officer on the entrance desk showing his identification.

“Mmm yes, Mister Shaw--”. She looked at him. “Are you the Deke Shaw? From the Deke Squad?”

“You caught me. Are you a fan?” said Deke.

“Of course I am! I saw you play at Madison Square Garden in-----"

The lady continued to tell Deke about her admiration for his band for 5 straight minutes. The D loved his fans, especially because it helped maintain his cover many times. But right now he had his mind somewhere else.

“I must ask. Is the Deke Squad going to get back together?” she asked with hopeful eyes

“Oh--- I am so sorry to disappoint you, that was back in the 80s. Most of us moved on. But you never know.”

After 5 minutes of more one-sided talking and getting an autograph, the officer guided Deke Shaw to a round table inside the visitation area of the facility. He was now waiting for the young man he heard so much about years ago.

Around him other prisoners were being visited by their families. It was hard for Deke to not relate to them, at that age he also got himself into a lot of trouble. To be fair, the only way you could survive in that apocalyptic lighthouse was to break some rules.

Seeing the grey walls and guards on every corner he thought “just like home”. The label of home was probably more suited to anywhere else than the place where he was born and raised. 

Still, that lighthouse was all he knew until a group of heroes traveled to the future, which was his present, and then he traveled with them back to the past, which was their present. It was confusing to say the least.

It was not easy but eventually they became his friends and the closest thing to family he had in a long time. However, after being caught into a war through space and time with alien robots, all of them were gone.

It had just been a few years since Deke decided to stay back in this alternate timeline, while the rest of the team traveled back to the original timeline to finish their final mission.

His mission was just beginning.

The sound of footsteps coming to him brought him back from his thoughts. An officer arrived with the prisoner Deke wanted to meet, a teenager Grant Ward.

“Come on, he doesn’t need the handcuffs. We’ll be fine” Deke persuaded.

Considering only what he heard from Daisy, Simmons, Coulson and May about Ward, he shouldn’t have been so trusty with this future assassin, secret agent, mastermind, criminal, terrorist, traitor, etc. But then again, that was Grant Ward in the original timeline.

The guard, without reacting, unchained him and left.

“Hi I’m Deke, it’s nice to finally meet you Ward.” said Deke with a smile.

“Nobody calls me Ward.” Said the teenager.

“Oh right, sorry.” Deke already was ruining it.

There was awkward pause.

“Are you like a lawyer? Did my parents sent you?” asked Ward with a hint of fear in his voice.

“The answer to both questions is no. And that is probably for the better. Your parents and your brother are furious with you for you know---setting their house on fire.” Deke admitted

They were so mad that if Deke didn’t act quickly Grant Ward could go to jail for the next 10 years. The man out of time considered it overkill.

“Then what are you doing here?.”asked the younger man with more curiosity.

“I will explain that but first I want to ask you something. You probably were asked why all of a sudden you decided to drive here to set technically your own house on fire, I don’t want to ask that—" said Deke raising a finger. “Would you have set your parents’ house on fire if you knew that your brother was inside?” he asked paying full attention to Ward’s reaction.

Ward didn’t answer, but Deke could see in his eyes regret.

“I don’t think you would have.” said Deke

“Why?” said Ward

Because his team had seen a world where Grant Ward wasn’t influenced by John Garret, a world where he was good. If his framework self was able to redeem his real self, then Deke believed that this Grant Ward should be a part of this SHIELD. If Deke had learned something from traveling back to the past multiple times, it was that knowing the future was the best tool he had. The future said that with Garret gone, Grant Ward could be a hero.

“Let’s just say that my gut tells me so.” Shaw explained.

“You didn’t answer why you are here”. 

“Right. Grant, I work for the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division, SHIELD for short, you can think about it as an elite, more secretive and cooler Secret Service. Our primary objective is to protect people.

“So you work for the government.” Concluded the young man. “What do you want from me?”

“We do not work for any government SHIELD is independent, but we do get support from a lot of countries. However there was an--- incident a few years back so SHIELD is currently rebuilding itself. And part of that is getting recruits.”.” Deke continued. “And lucky for you I have heard a lot of things about you……… I must admit a lot of them are bad. Case and point, the reason you are here. But, I think that in the right environment with the right people at your side you can do a lot of good with us.”

“How do I know you are telling the truth?”

Deke took his badge from his pocket and showed it to Grant Ward. They teenager inspected it for a minute. A silver eagle standing over a picture of Deke next to _Agent of Shield_. Ward looked at Deke.

“I know it can seem hard to trust somebody, especially in your case. However, SHIELD its offering you a second chance. And to be honest it is awesome. So if you want to you can drive with me to one of our bases today.”

Ward sarcastically laughed.

“I’m a prisoner here if you didn’t realize.”

“Oh right! I did not get to that part. I am also here to inform you that your family dropped the charges against you.”

The sarcastic smiled turned into pure shock.

“I’ll explain, after hearing about you we sent a couple of agents, including me, to do some background check. Everyone we talked to said that your family were close to perfect and there was not any reason for you to want to burn the house down. But my gut told me otherwise. So we questioned your brother Christian and eventually he told us everything. Thomas confirmed it” Explained Deke as he handed Grant the newspaper of today which headline proved that he was saying the truth.

Ward tried to process it, but it seemed too good to be true and it came out of nowhere. It seemed impossible for him that after so many years of abuse his parents would finally meet justice. He hated them so much, and that hate only grew every time someone would tell them how good parents they were, every time he realized that if he asked for help nobody would believe him.

As the boy read the newspaper, he couldn’t stop a few tears from falling. He figured that after burning their house all the hate he was tired of feeling inside of him would disappear, but it didn’t until this stranger told him what he wanted to hear for so many years, when he gave him closure.

“I am okay.” Grant said for the fist time in years meaning it. “Thanks for helping me.”

“Don’t worry about it.”

“I don’t get why would they drop the charges.”

“They probably did it so you wouldn’t sue them. But, long story short you are a free man, but you still have to do community labor for all the burning. Which I am told is sucks.”

Ward chuckled.

“Anyway, you life is in your hands, you can either come with me and join SHIELD, or you can go back to school, chase after girls, go to colleague. You know, the normal stuff.”

Grant looked at the badge again.

“Are you saying SHIELD won’t be normal?”

Deke smiled, if he only knew.

“That normal is what we try to protect, we stand between the normal and all the weird bad stuff that can hurt it. We fight in the shadows so other people only have to worry about the normal things. I know it sounds crazy, but you will not believe in anything about SHIELD if you don’t come with me and see it for yourself.”

Grant Ward thought for a few minutes. All his life his parents controlled him, making every decision for him. The day of the well he knew that he had to throw the rope for Thomas sooner, but fear stopped him from doing it. Not anymore, he was going to do what he thought was right. He knew it then and he knew it now.

“I believe in protecting people.” Ward said

The teenager stood up and extended his hand. Deke smiled and quickly got up and shook his hand.

“Welcome to SHIELD.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading. Kudos and comments are highly appreciated.


End file.
